Second District Congressman Bob Etheridge, Fourth District Congressman David Price and 13th District Congressman Brad Miller told members of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce that the economic downturn will make hammering out details of the stimulus package difficult.

"I think the goal is to try to get it to the House and Senate certainly by the end of February and on the president's desk by that time ... to get the money flowing to the states and get people to work and get these projects moving," Etheridge said.

The congressmen said they've been conferring with Gov. Beverly Perdue about what needs to be done at the state level. Perdue plans to travel to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to meet with North Carolina's congressional delegation.

Etheridge also has asked President-elect Barack Obama to include tax credits to fund local school construction in his version of the bill. That should bring $448 million to North Carolina and create or sustain more than 10,000 jobs, he said.

The congressmen said they plan to work to ensure the stimulus package is more transparent than the $700 billion bailout of the financial industry approved last fall. They expressed frustration over not knowing what banks are doing with the money they received.

original intentJan 13, 2009

I libe in teh 2nd district and Etheridge has more than plenty of calls & emails from me...IF we can the Dept of Education...NC can keep the @ 1.8 BILLION it sends to DC for education...I remember an article from a few years ago,,that the GAO stated the ED dept "lost" track of $3 BILLION!!

original intentJan 13, 2009

Admiral..if they FEDS would buy more printers,,they could print more money,,,,then we would all be rich!! The Demos-Libs-Socialists must sleep thru ECON 101...or be like my daughter when she was in pre-school,,"Daddy if you don't have the cash you can just charge it""!! Uncle Sam,,come hold my hand!!

TheAdmiralJan 13, 2009

Just tell me every year what my package will be and I will change my hours of work so that it don't burden those corporations, and they can't make a profit to keep people employed.

I wonder when the socialists will start paying us to not work.

whatelseisnewJan 13, 2009

Have no fear, your great great great great grandchildren will be more than happy to pick up the tab.

aspenstreet1717Jan 13, 2009

The tragedy is that these clowns have no idea of what they're talking about. More $. Wasn't the problem easy money and huge deficits? So what is their solution? More easy money and even larger deficits. Its absolute insanity.

jsandersJan 13, 2009

ifcdirectorJan 13, 2009

Why doesn't this trio of ultra liberal democrat Reps. Bob Etheridge, David Price and Brad Miller focus on getting rid of the IRS and the huge burdensome tax code and other federal regulations that cost American businesses $1.3 Trillion with a "T" dollars a year to comply with? Because they are socialists who enjoy having governmental control over and above prosperity and investment and industry and even fairness. If I had to name three people I wouldn't want to handle my business or wallet it would have to be these three leftists first and foremost. Passing out money to elitists and rich bankers who they pal around with, as all three voted to do, and continuing to hand out our money so we can spend our way to prosperity is a the plan of a fool. If these three were serious about not making every American a dependent serf then perhaps they would be worth listening to on the economy and business but none of them know anything about that nor do they really care.